Ducking and Diving
by ejb
Summary: Tristran is forced to flee in the face of the enemy.


DUCKING AND DIVING

_I do not own the rights to the King Arthur movie, somebody else does._

_I would like to thank my beta readers for pointing out my errors and making a few suggestions with the story. _

_I would also like to thank Dickonfan for giving me permission to make references from her story 'Lessons Learned' and for letting me borrow Tristran's memory for that day_.

DUCKING AND DIVING

Tristran was about to leave the tavern at Cilurnum. He'd only come in for a quick drink of ale to refresh his thirst before going back to his quarters at the end of the warm summer's evening. Some of the knights were busy taking bets on an arm wrestling contest between Bors and Galahad that was about to take place. Tristran had declined to join in with them as he had no interest in that and saw no sense in it. Apart from the injury that could be done to a man's arm that he would need for battle, it was a certainty that Bors would most likely win anyway as he was the stronger of the two.

As he was leaving he met Lancelot on route who informed him that Arthur wanted to see him, so instead of going to his quarters as planned he went to find Arthur.

Arthur looked up from some papers he'd been studying when he saw Tristran entering through the door. "Good, you got my message from Lancelot I see," Arthur said to him.

"I was on my way from the tavern when he gave it to me," Tristran informed him. "What is it you want me to do?"

"There has been a report of some merchants and other innocent people being attacked by Woads from further north and they have killed many and taken their goods and cattle. The ones attacked were delivering supplies to native tribes who have settlements to the north of Vercovicium Fort," Arthur told him. He went on to say. "Those people who work the land supply the Romans and us with cereals and meat. In between those settlements and the fort is dense woodland. These Woads may plan to come down closer to this region. I need you to go first thing in the morning and look out for any signs of their activity. I will be following with the rest of the knights behind you in case of a battle ensuing."

"I will do that," Tristran said. "I will go and pack my things now ready for the journey."

"Here is my pass document to get you through any gateways on the Wall you'll need," Arthur said to him as he handed Tristran the document. "Good night, good luck and take care of yourself."

Tristran put the pass needed to show the Romans he was acting on Arthur's orders inside his tunic, then he wished Arthur a good night also before going to his quarters. As soon as he got there he prepared the things he would need to take with him before setting off on his journey early the next day. After that he settled down for a good night's rest.

Early the next morning Tristran went to the tavern, now quiet compared to last evening. Only a few early risers who had important jobs to do around the vicas were present and they sat quietly talking amongst themselves. Tristran ate a meal alone, just as he preferred to, consisting of bread and cheese, washed down with some ale.

Afterwards he went to his quarters to collect his things and then on to the stables where he saddled up his horse, giving the animal a tasty crust of bread to eat while he did so. In the early morning sunshine he left the fort at Cilurnum to begin his journey westwards.

Tristran knew from his vast experience the forests that Arthur wanted him to scout around in, because he had often been in that area. It was just north of one his favourite resting places when travelling along the Wall. The route he chose now to get to it was an easy one as he could use the good solid road that the Romans had made for a few miles west. Once past the fort of Vercovicium he would go through the gateway of the next smaller Roman fortlet outpost on the Wall that was in between Vercocvicium and the next fort. From there he would go directly to the north where the forested area began.

He sat confidently on his horse and admired the sights and sounds of nature as he travelled. He was pleased to get away from the noise of Cilurnum and some of the meaningless conversations that he was occasionally forced into when he wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. He looked up and saw to his inner happiness that his hawk was following high above him in the skies and would no doubt be joining him for a tasty bite of food when he stopped to rest along the way.

As he approached the gateway of the Roman fortlet outpost on the Wall, Tristran could see that a lot of merchants and tradesmen were already travelling south. They clearly must have heard the news about the attacks that Arthur had informed him about and had decided not to risk going in that direction and were going back to where they had come from. The only ones that looked happy about it were the Roman soldiers on duty at the gateways who were assigned to collect the taxes from each person as they passed through. Tristran despised the Romans for this as he'd heard that a lot of money never found its way into the proper account books, and, besides that, these merchants had already paid once to get through the gateways and were now having to pay again after being unable to sell their wares further north.

'_They'll be getting no money out of me,' _he thought as he approached the south gateway leading from the road and took out the pass that Arthur had given him ready to show the Roman soldiers who didn't seem to recognise Tristran, nor he them.

Although the pass was written in Latin, one of the Roman soldiers spent a while checking it carefully for its authenticity, much to Tristran's annoyance. Then he called his fellow soldier over for a second opinion who also took his time to study the wording before they both decided to accept the pass as genuine and conceded to the fact that Tristran would not be adding any money to their coffers that morning. They handed the pass back to Tristran and beckoned him through the second gateway to the north. Tristran put the pass back inside his tunic, scowling at them as he did so. He was angry for his delay at the hands of two fools that he would have cheerfully killed if he'd had the opportunity to do so and rode his horse away from them as quickly as he could in spite of the many travellers on the road.

Once away from the Wall he could relax again as his favourite place of rest came into view. A lone tree standing lofty and tall near a small lake. A few bushes were dotted around and clumps of purple heather adorned the rocky ground close by.

Here Tristran dismounted from his horse and took him to the lake for some water before tying him to a bush where he could graze on the grass nearby. Tristran also had something to eat and drink under the shade of his favourite tree.

He gazed at the lake and thought about his home and the huge lake close to his village where his father and the other men used to go fishing and he and the other boys would help them with nets and learn the skills needed for when they grew into men. In the summer the task was easy but the bitterly cold winter months required a different skill when the lake was frozen over and holes had to be made in the ice and traps laid inside to catch the fish. It was a long, cold and difficult job, but so necessary to keep the families fed when fresh meat was scarce at that time of year.

He thought about those native people now in the north of this place who were trying to make a living on the land. The Romans were probably exploiting them too for food to feed their soldiers and he couldn't care less if the Romans starved or not. Those people did need his help and he could feel empathy towards them; they did need protection from raiders.

He finished his meal of cold chicken and bread when his hawk swooped down and landed on his shoulder, just as he expected. "So you come for your meal too," he said to her affectionately. The bird hopped onto his arm and Tristran fed her some morsels of chicken he'd saved.

"You are getting lazy, you should be going after those ducks on the water and bringing me a meal instead," he said to her as the hawk took the chicken from him and ate it.

In reply to his suggestion, the hawk flew up into the tree and began preening her feathers after she had finished eating, as if she was appalled at such a suggestion from her master. Tristran eyed the ducks of which a great number had now appeared on the lake along with some geese and other water fowl and wondered if he could catch one or two to take back with him. He was on good terms with the cook at the fort and often took fish and rabbits to him to make tasty meals and he'd not eaten duck for ages.

Thinking he had plenty of time to catch a duck or two before he resumed his journey he quietly made his way to the side of the lake. Then laying himself down flat on the ground so he would be hidden by the reeds, he waited for the ducks to swim down towards him. One or two would perhaps walk out of the lake at that point and he would seize them before they knew what happened. This was another skill he'd learned in childhood from the men in his village when hunting for food.

Tristran lay as still as he could and watched to see if a duck was coming within his grasp. To his horror, two things occurred to him at the same time. The first was that he noticed close by him lots of nests amongst the reeds with large eggs in that were not laid by ducks but by geese. The second thing he quickly discovered was that he was now being surrounded by several geese that had laid those eggs, along with their male partners. They were all determined to defend their nests from any threat that Tristran may pose to them. These geese were in a hostile mood as they became closer and began to raise their necks and hiss at him.

Now Tristran knew he was no coward when drawn into battle with Woads or any other human enemy, but a large flock of angry geese made formidable opponents. Those beaks could administer a vicious peck and he knew it. He knew he would be safer standing up and making a run for it.

Quickly rising to his feet he kicked out at the geese in front in an effort to scare them. He managed to fend some off but was still receiving several pecks from behind as he did so. He saw the tree in front and considered trying to climb it for safety, but recalled an earlier scouting mission when he'd done that and what the outcome was and decided against that. The last thing he wanted was for Arthur and the rest of the knights to find him in that position again.

Still fending off the geese as well as he could, Tristran thought his best bet would be to run to his horse and get his sword from the scabbard to protect himself, and then ride away quickly.

The horse seemed unconcerned that his master was running towards him with a large flock of geese in pursuit, and continued eating the juicy fresh grass that was growing round about. Tristran wished that he hadn't tied him to a bush like that as he may have been able to call the animal to him. He could still feel angry pecks at his legs and other places as he ran but knew he had to keep going.

Suddenly the pecking stopped and so did the hissing sounds from the geese. Tristran turned around and saw that the geese were now honking in fear and running back to the lake. Above them his hawk swooped down in a threatening manner at them as they ran.

Tristran stood still and regained his breath. He was sore in several places and bleeding in others but the joy he felt in his heart at what his hawk had done for him counterbalanced all of that.

He reached his horse and untied him from the bush. The horse nodded his head two or three times and showed his teeth at Tristran before giving out a whinny. "Don't you laugh at me," Tristran said as he climbed into the saddle and let out a gasp of pain as he sat down. It was going to be a long, hard, ride to the forest further north. At least when he got there he could take advantage of a nice cool stream to ease the pain of some of his wounds before he got down to the serious job of scouting for Woad activity.

Before he began riding off he put out his arm and whistled for his hawk to come to him again. The bird lost no time and settled down on his arm and looked up at him as Tristran stroked her chest and said to her, "Thank you, my friend. I'll not forget what you did for me and I will see that you get the biggest hare or rabbit I can find for you as a reward."

With a squawk of gratitude the hawk flew up into the sky again. Tristran watched her go and allowed himself to smile up at his rescuer as she circled above him. Then he painfully urged his horse forward and resumed his journey.

6


End file.
